The American dream for all

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., accompanied by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, and others members of the House and Senate Democrats, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. House and Senate Democrats gather to call for Congressional Republicans to stand up to President Trump's decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative by bringing the DREAM Act for a vote on the House and Senate Floor. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Photo: Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

In high school, Jesus Castro used to toil alongside his father, a roofer. It was grueling labor, the heat searing as noxious fumes enveloped them. Castro had crossed the border from Mexico when he was 5 years old, along with his three brothers, and his parents had always encouraged them to go to school and earn good grades so “we wouldn’t have to work like animals, slaving away like them,” said Castro, now 22.

After he graduated, he filed for DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — a program enacted in 2012 that allowed him to receive protections against deportation (renewable every two years) and made him eligible for a work permit. He’s a full-time student at San Francisco State University, studying political science, and he works half-time as a program assistant in the city’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.

Earlier this week, President Trump rescinded DACA, cruelly threatening to shut down the opportunities that the program opened up to nearly 800,000 immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” who were brought here as children. He’s called upon Congress to pass a solution within the next six months, and plans to revisit the issue if legislators cannot — leaving the Dreamers in limbo.

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Among DACA recipients, 95 percent are working or in school; and more than half were able to get better jobs than before they became DACA recipients; and most were able to buy their first cars, according to a survey conducted by UC San Diego, the National Immigration Law Center and the Center for American Progress.

Others surveys suggest the program has promoted social integration among Dreamers by reducing fear about their lack of papers, instilled a greater sense of belonging and led to increased civic participation.

Dreamers are students in our communities, our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers and employees, our partners and our families — they’re us. They’re staking a claim to the American dream and contributing to this country. DACA recipient Alonso Guillen died trying to rescue people in the aftermath of Harvey’s flooding, when his boat slammed into a bridge and capsized.

Jesus Contreras, another Dreamer, is a Houston-area paramedic who worked nearly nonstop after the storm. “We just got hit by a hurricane here, and now we’re getting hit by another storm, an even bigger one,” the 23-year-old told NBC News.

Why destroy a successful program before another plan is in place? It’s the president’s crass and desperate attempt to fulfill a campaign promise, in an agenda that he has so far failed to achieve. And it’s part of his continued attack on immigrants and people of color in this country, from the Muslim travel ban, to his support for white supremacists, from his calls for a wall along the border to Mexico, to his proposed curtailing of family preferences in legal immigration.

“The administration has been bullying the undocumented community. They’re playing a game. They think we’re a joke,” Castro said. “We got hit, we fell, but we’re dusting ourselves off and will keep fighting, keep going. Me and my family have lived here undocumented before, and we can do it again.”

Decades ago, his grandfather came to this country as a bracero, working in agriculture under a Mexican guest worker program. He returned to his family in Puebla, Mexico. At 19, his son crossed the border, and eventually, his wife and children — including Jesus — joined him in San Francisco.

“That sense of persistence and wanting something better has always been present in my family,” Castro said. “I’m not only speaking for myself, but for all undocumented immigrants.”

Hong Mei Pang used to be a Dreamer, but after getting married, she now has her green card.

“There’s some level of safety afforded to me because of the adjustments (in status). But because we are in community, each one of us feels sadness and grief,” said Pang, an immigrant rights program manager at Chinese for Affirmative Action, a San Francisco civil rights group.

She’s urging people to take part in the grassroots actions and demonstrations, to stay on guard against those who might prey on others fearful about their immigration status, and to stay resilient. “Be on the side of justice, to protect those most marginalized,” said Pang, who came here from Singapore as a teenager.

As the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants, I can relate deeply to the striving and sacrifice of Dreamers and their families.

For now, Castro goes to work, still hoping to become an immigration lawyer someday. “There’s a sort of power that knowing the law gives you. You don’t feel as vulnerable, in times like this, knowing you have rights that no one can take from you.”

Vanessa Hua is a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, the Hartford Courant and the Los Angeles Times. At The Chronicle, she launched an investigation that led to the resignation of the California secretary of state and prompted investigations by the FBI.

She’s won a number of journalism awards from groups including the Asian American Journalist Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. She also won the James Madison Freedom of Information Award.

Her short-story collection, “Deceit and Other Possibilities,” will be published by Willow Books in the fall, and she recently signed a contract with Ballantine Books to publish two novels: “A River of Stars,” which won a Rona Jaffe Award, and “The Sea Places.”